Hold On To What You Believe
by driver picks the music
Summary: charlie has a crisis of faith and isn't sure what she's fighting for anymore. Maybe it'll take someone who's been lost more than once to light the way. -Charloe one shot-


**This has been bouncing around in my head for a couple weeks now and wasn't going to stop so I decided to write it down. Set sometime after Season 2  
**

**It's a one shot, there will not be any more after this, this is it.**

**The title came from the Mumford & Sons song of the same name (thank you ShyRomantic for turning me on to them).**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. If I owned Revolution I would be doing all I could to relocate it for everyone...but I don't...but I still am :)**

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Charlie sat alone. The rest of her group was sitting by the fire while Miles and Blanchard talked about plans and their next step over bowls of stew Gene had concocted.

Charlie though, she didn't want to be around the rest at the moment. She just needed some time to herself, so she sat by a small copse of trees, sharpening her knife and ignoring the bowl of stew at her feet.

…

The fighting was almost over. They had won. Blanchard was going to take over things and Miles was ready to resume his place in the shadows, lying low once more; this time with Rachel, and maybe even Charlie, by his side; while they tried to figure out what the nano were up to.

Monroe on the other hand was chomping at the bit to stay a part of the action. He hadn't realized, sitting behind his desk in Philly, just how much he had missed being in the thick of things. Until, that is, he was thrown back into it against his will.

Besides, it's not like he really had other options to choose from. Connor was in the wind, having split from Neville long before they took that bastard out. Probably back in Mexico with Daddy Nunez, commanding his thirty-odd men since he couldn't count on his real father to hand him an army.

Bass sat and looked at the burning logs in the fire before sighing and standing up. He needed to get away from the crowd, clear his head for a little while.

It was then that he noticed Charlie all alone by the trees, her bowl on the ground and a detached look on her face as she ran her sharpening stone along the edge of her knife.

…

"What are you doing?" Monroe asked as he leaned against the tree to Charlie's right.

Charlie sighed and stopped the stone and glanced at him from the corner of her eye. "The hocky pocky." She said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "What does it look like?"

Bass rolled his eyes. After coming through for Miles and everyone else with the fake president, he and Charlie had started to get back on track towards the friendship they had been developing before everything turned to crap on them.

"I mean why are you over here by yourself?" he asked as he sat on the log next her to her.

Charlie shrugged and turned slightly to look at him and answer his question with one of her own. "Why were you going off by yourself?" she asked, knowing that was exactly what he had been up to before coming to pester her.

It was Monroe's turn to shrug. "Just need to clear my head, it was a little crowded over there." He said, looking back to the rest of the group.

Charlie followed his gaze and nodded as she watched everyone else go on about their night, eating and talking and making plans as if they weren't all waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"I know what you mean." She said. "That's exactly why I'm over here." She said as she put her knife away and slid the stone into her pocket. Ready to have the nightly conversation she had grown accustomed to with the man sitting next to her.

Sometimes they kept things light and silly, telling funny stories from their childhoods, Charlie loved to hear stories about young Bass and Miles and the different antics they had gotten up to before they grew up and the world jaded them.

Bass liked to watch the soft smile play across Charlie's face when she told him about Danny, no longer feeling that familiar hatred for the man next to her as a direct emotion linked to her dead brother, but able, instead, to remember him and their happier times together with fondness and love.

Other times they went deeper, sharing the hard things that they kept inside on a day to day basis. Charlie felt almost honored when Bass shared his story of love found and them tragically lost, ripped away from him at the height of happiness.

Bass felt as if there was a true chance at redemption when Charlie shared the story of the day Danny died; cut down by Monroe's own men at what should have been the real beginning of his life; without a hint of that old anger he had long since grown accustomed to having pointed at himself.

They were friends.

They both knew that they were steadily headed towards something more, but they were both too afraid of messing it up to really act upon whatever feelings they might have.

So they talked.

…

It was this night though, when things would change, when they would go too far and there would be no turning back as they have both done so many times before. Tonight the conversation was heavy.

They had, like so many other nights, and so many other friends around the country, gotten onto the topic of the war.

"A while back, my mom asked me what I was fighting for." Charlie said quietly as she picked at the bark on the log they sat upon.

Bass nodded. "Miles asked me the same thing." He said and shrugged. "At the time it was about getting the Republic back, now it's about trying to make up for what I've done and move on and find a good place in my life." he said. "What did you say to Rachel?"

Charlie sighed. "I didn't really answer her, I didn't have one to give." She said turning her head to look at him. "I don't really know, I don't have anything to fight _for_ anymore."

Bass frowned. "What about your family?"

Charlie looked away from him, turning her head towards the sky to look at the stars that had come out while they talked. "It started out that way, but my dad died, Danny died, even Maggie, who I didn't really see as family until it was too late, died. Then my friends started going right along with them. Nora died and then Jason. They're all gone now." She said turning her head to look at him once again.

Charlie was surprised to see the anger on his face, it had been a while since it was directed at her.

"They were your only family for a long time, I'll give you that, but what about _them_?" He asked, pointing towards the group.

Charlie looked over towards the fire where everyone had settled in for the night. Aaron with his arm around Pricilla, her head on his shoulder. Miles talking about something with Gene, her grandfather with a smile on his face. And Rachel putting more wood on the fire before taking her seat next to Miles.

Charlie watched them with a sort of longing on her face.

Bass shook his head and reached for her hand. It was new; they never touched if they could help it. That was pushing the limit that they had put on their relationship without acknowledging it was there.

Charlie looked at him in surprise at the sudden contact. "Family isn't always the same few people all your life Charlie." Bass said. "Take it from someone with experience; you can have more than one family in a lifetime."

He let go of her hand and pretended not to notice when she nervously wiped it on her jeans. "It doesn't matter who or what you're fighting, all that matters is what you're fighting for." He said to her. "And if you started out believing that family was worth fighting for, then fight for them. It may not be the same people, but they are family none the less."

Charlie let his words sink in as she looked back over at the group of people that she fought with, and she realized he was right. Not only has she been fighting with these people all this time, but she's been fighting _for_ them as well. They aren't the family she started this journey with, but they are her family now and even after everything they have all been through, she loves them.

"Thank you." She said as she turned back to the man beside her. The man that has surprised her more than once with his insightfulness that he likes to pretend doesn't exist.

It was her turn this time to push that limit as she reached out and grabbed his hand, giving it a light squeeze. "Thank you." She said again and she smiled crookedly.

Bass nodded once as he turned his head away, unable to hold her gaze for fear that she would read his thoughts too clearly on his face, as she has taken so well to doing.

"You know," she said as she removed her hand, and he did all he could not to react to the sudden loss. "they can be your family too." She said.

He turned back to her and Charlie shrugged, her trademark smirk in place, making her look so much like Miles in that moment. "I'm pretty sure you're stuck with Miles no matter what at this point." She said. "If he's hung around this long I think you're pretty much golden."

"What about you?" he asked and the smirk faded from her face.

Charlie held his gaze. This was getting dangerous, they never pushed this much but she wasn't sure she could turn away now, or that she really wanted to.

"I could be your family." She said quietly.

Bass leaned a little closer and Charlie felt compelled, as if she were being pulled, to lean in as well.

"What if I don't want you to just be family?" he asked softly, his gaze flickering down to her lips before settling back on her eyes.

Charlie leaned even farther still, her hand moving before she even realized what she was going to do, to settle on the side of his neck, her thumb stroking the coarse hair on the side of his face. "That might work too." She said and then smiled softly at the surprise on his face.

She shook her head slightly. "You have shown time and again that the good guy you were is still inside there, you're done so much good. Sure you've done plenty of bad things and you'll do more, we all will before this is all said and done." She said and shrugged, her hand still on his face. "I guess I'd just like to be around for both."

It was this night, when things would change, when they would go too far and there would be no turning back as they have both done so many times before.

And so Bass leaned forward, and pressed his lips her hers.

They both knew this wasn't going to be easy, they were going to have more than their fair share of obstacles to overcome. That's even assuming they make it out of this war with the nano alive. But as Charlie scooted closer and Bass slid a hand along her waist, they both knew they would be ok, because some things are worth fighting for.

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**Thanks for reading. :)**

**And remember...**

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